John Walker's Fourmilab Change Log

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Reading List: Imperium

Marcus
Tullius Tiro was a household slave who served as
the personal secretary to the Roman orator, lawyer, and
politician
Cicero.
Tiro is credited with the invention of shorthand, and is responsible
for the extensive verbatim records of Cicero's court appearances and
political speeches. He was freed by Cicero in 53 B.C. and later purchased a farm where he lived to
around the age of 100 years. According to contemporary accounts, Tiro
published a biography of Cicero of at least four volumes; this work
has been lost.

In this case, history's loss is a novelist's opportunity, which
alternative-history wizard Robert Harris
(Fatherland,
Archangel,
Enigma,
Pompeii) seizes,
bringing the history of Cicero's rise from ambitious lawyer
to Consul of Rome to life, while remaining true to the documented
events of Cicero's career. The narrator is Tiro, who discovers both the
often-sordid details of how the Roman republic actually functioned
and the complexity of Cicero's character as the story progresses.

The sense one gets of Rome is perhaps a little too modern,
and terminology creeps in from time to time (for example,
“electoral college” [p. 91]) which seems
out of place. On pp. 226–227 there is an extended passage
which made me fear we were about to veer off into commentary
on current events:

‘I do not believe we should negotiate with such people,
as it will only encourage them in their criminal acts.’
…
Where would be struck next? What Rome was facing was a threat
very different from that posed by a conventional enemy. These
pirates were a new type of ruthless foe, with no government to
represent them and no treaties to bind them. Their bases were not
confined to a single state. They had no unified system of command.
They were a worldwide pestilence, a parasite which needed to be
stamped out, otherwise Rome—despite her overwhelming
military superiority—would never again know security or
peace.
…
Any ruler who refuses to cooperate will be regarded as
Rome's enemy. Those who are not with us are against us.

Harris resists the temptation of turning Rome into a
soapbox for present-day political advocacy on any side, and
quickly gets back to the political intrigue in the capital.
(Not that the latter days of the Roman republic are devoid
of relevance to the present situation; study of them may provide
more insight into the news than all the pundits and political
blogs on the Web. But the parallels are not exact, and the
circumstances are different in many fundamental ways. Harris
wisely sticks to the story and leaves the reader to discern the
historical lessons.)

The novel comes to a rather abrupt close with Cicero's election to
the consulate in 63
B.C.
I suspect that what we have here is the first volume of a trilogy.
If that be the case, I look forward to future installments.